Saturday, 14 November 2015

This is a song of Brassens, the social reformer and with its
violent element also of Brassens, the anarchist. His attitude was shaped by the straitened
circumstances of the, nevertheless, happy family home of his childhood, when
money had been in short supply. Brassens’
song about the marriage of his parents "La Marche Nuptiale"tells the same story of a humble family fighting for its dignity.

GRAND-PÈRE

Grand-père
suivait en chantant

La route qui
mène à cent ans.

La mort lui fit,
au coin d'un bois,

L' coup du pèr'
François.(1)

L'avait donné de
son vivant

Tant de bonheur
à ses enfants

Qu'on fit, pour
lui en savoir gré,(2)

Tout pour
l'enterrer

Et l'on courut à
toutes jam-

-bes quérir une
bière, mais...

Comme on était
léger d'argent(3),

Le marchand nous
reçut à bras fermés.(4)

"Chez
l'épicier, pas d'argent, pas d'épices,

Chez la belle
Suzon, pas d'argent, pas de cuisse...(5)

Les morts de basse
condition

C'est pas de ma
juridiction."

Or, j'avais
hérité d' grand-père

Un' pair' de
bott's pointues

S'il y a des
coups d' pied què'que part qui s' perdent,(6)

C'lui-là toucha(7)
son but

C'est depuis ce
temps-là que le bon apôtre(8)

C'est depuis ce
temps-là que le bon apôtre

Ah ! c'est pas
joli...

Ah ! c'est pas
poli...

A un' fess' qui
dit merde à l'autre(9)

Bon papa(10),

Ne t'en fais
pas:

Nous en
viendrons

À bout de (11) tous
ces empêcheurs d'enterrer en rond(12)

Le mieux à faire
et le plus court,

Pour qu'
l'enterrement suivît son cours,

Fut de borner
nos prétentions

À un' bièr'
d'occasion.(13)

Contre un pot de
miel (14) on acquit

Les quatre
planches d'un mort qui

Rêvait d'offrir
quelques douceurs

À une âme soeur.

Et l'on courut à
toutes jam-

-bes quérir un
corbillard, mais...

Comme on était
léger d'argent,

Le marchand nous
reçut à bras fermés.

"Chez
l'épicier, pas d'argent, pas d'épices,

Chez la belle
Suzon, pas d'argent, pas de cuisse...

Les morts de
basse condition,

C'est pas de ma
juridiction."

Ma bott' partit,
mais je m' refuse

De dir' vers
quel endroit,

Ça rendrait les
dames confuses

Et je n'en ai
pas le droit

C'est depuis ce
temps-là que le bon apôtre

C'est depuis ce
temps-là que le bon apôtre

Ah ! c'est pas
joli...

Ah ! c'est pas
poli...

A un' fess' qui
dit merde à l'autre

Bon papa,

Ne t'en fais pas

Nous en
viendrons

À bout de tous
ces empêcheurs d'enterrer en rond

Le mieux à faire
et le plus court,

Pour qu'
l'enterrement suivît son cours,

Fut de porter
sur notre dos

L' funèbre
fardeau.

S'il eût pu
revivre un instant,

Grand-père
aurait été content

D'aller à sa
dernièr' demeur'

Comme un
empereur.

Et l'on courut à
toutes jam-

-bes quérir un
goupillon(15), mais...

Comme on était
léger d'argent,

Le marchand nous reçut à bras fermés.

"Chez
l'épicier, pas d'argent, pas d'épices,

Chez la belle
Suzon, pas d'argent, pas de cuisse...

Les morts de
basse condition,

C'est pas de ma
bénédiction."

Avant même que
le vicaire(16)

Ait pu lâcher un
cri,

J' lui bottai l'
cul au nom du Pèr',

Du Fils et du
Saint-Esprit.

C'est depuis ce
temps-là que le bon apôtre

C'est depuis ce
temps-là que le bon apôtre

Ah ! c'est pas
joli...

Ah ! c'est pas
poli...

A un' fess' qui
dit merde à l'autre.

Bon papa,

Ne t'en fais
pas:

Nous en
viendrons

À bout de tous
ces empêcheurs d'enterrer en rond

À bout de tous
ces empêcheurs d'enterrer en rond

Georges
Brassens

(1957 - Je me suis fait tout
petit, 7)

Grandpa walked the road,
singing,

That leads to his hundred
years.

Death sneaked on him down
in the woods

And snuffed him out short.

He had given in his life
time

Such happiness to his
children

That, gratefully, they did their
all

For his funeral.

And they ran fast as legs
would

Take them to get a coffin,
but

As they’d little ready
money

The man who dealt in them turned
them right down.

"At the grocers, no
money, no groceries

At fair Susie’s house, no
money, no fun …

Deaths low on the social
scale

Aren’t under my
jurisdiction.”

Now, I’d inherited from
Grandad

A pair of pointy boots

If there are kicks up the
bum somewhere done on the quiet

This pair was just the job.

The coffin maker has had
ever since

This same fine fellow has
had ever since

Ah, it is not nice

Ah, it’s not polite

A very twisted bum which
makes him wince.

Kind grandpa

Don't get upset

We will manage to

Sort out those who stand in
the way

Of burials due

The best thing to do and
quickest

So the funeral might be
carried out

Was to limit our requirements

To a second hand coffin

We acquired for a jar of
honey

Four planks from a dead man
who

Dreamt of giving some sweet
things

To a great soul-mate.

And we ran fast as legs
would

Take us to get a hearse,
but

As we’d little ready money

The man who dealt in them
turned us right down

"At the grocers, no
money, no groceries

At fair Susie’s house, no
money, no fun …

Deaths low on the social
scale

Are not in my
jurisdiction.”

My boot lashed out, but I refuse

To tell the spot aimed at

T’would embarrass the ladies

And I don’t have the right to

And the fine fellow has had
ever since

And the fine fellow has had
ever since

Ah, it is not nice

Ah, it’s not polite

A very twisted bum which
makes him wince.

Kind grandpa

Don't get upset

We will manage to

Sort out those who stand in
the way of burials due

The very best way and the
quickest

So the funeral might follow
its course

Was to carry on our backs

The funeral burden.

If he could’ve come back to life a bit

Grandfather would have been content

To go to his final place of rest

Just like an emperor

And we ran at full speed to
get

A holy water sprinkler, but

As we’d little ready money

The man who dealt in them
turned us right down.

"At the grocers, no
money, no groceries

At fair Susie’s house, no
money, no fun …

Deaths low on the social
scale

Are not in my benediction.”

Even before the curate

Could give forth a cry

I kicked his arse in name of the

Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

And the fine fellow has had
ever since

And the fine fellow has had
ever since

Ah, it is not nice

Ah, it’s not polite

A very twisted bum which
makes him wince.

Kind grandpa

Don't get upset

We will manage to

Sort out those who stand in
the way

Of burials due

Sort out those who stand in
the way

Of burials due

Translation notes

1)Faire le coup du père francais – He compares the
sudden, severe stroke that killed his grandfather, with symptoms, no doubt, of
fighting for breath, to a mortal attack by notorious French street robbers.The
dictionary, Reverso tells their story : Originally, in the course of the second half of the 19th century, the
real « coup du père François » could only be carried out if there
were two scoundrels, whose aim was to relieve of his money the average citizen,
who had the audacity and imprudence to walk out at night in ill-lit streets.The crime was carried out in the following
manner: the first of the attackers would get into conversation with the
stroller, with some everyday remark such as asking for a light or asking the
time. The accomplice, armed with a belt
to form a slip knot, came up from behind to strangle the victim, while he
retained the back of the victim against his own back. The latter, with his feet
of the ground was like a sack of potatoes, struggling to breathe and to free
himself from the noose, All the while the man at the front was free to
rummage through and empty his pockets. When
the theft was completed, the victim was generally in a very bad state, although
not necessarily dead. The partners in crime
would then recuperate the belt they had used and make off.

6)Des coups de pied quelque part qui se perdent- se perdre has an
idiomatic use. The dictionary says that an act
« qui se perd », is an act which is committed with impunity. I n modern English we talk of things “passing
under the radar”.

7)Toucha son but - We are reminded
that “toucher” also has the sense of “to hit one’s target” –hence the cry in
fencing: “touché!”

8)le
bon apôtre – Apôtre means apostle
However the word is sometimes used ironically for some-one who does not
live up to the standards pretended. My
translation - “fine fellow”- is meant to
be ironical

9)Il a un' fess' qui dit
merde à l'autre. Brassens gives this line a build up
as « not nice" and "impolite ». This phrase is making a play on the awful
expression: “Il a un oeil qui dit merde
à l’autre”, which means “He is cross-eyed”. In Brassens’ version “merde” may seem to have
reference to the physical locality. But in the original’ it would seem to have
its normal colloquial usage to express surprise or pain. The translation should therefore describe a
permanently deformed bottom, associated with pain and should shock the reader
or listener. Not easy! To restore the emphasis that I have lost , I
have added a rhyme.

10)Bon
Papa – In those days “Bon Papa” was a way of saying « Grandad »

12)Tous ces empêcheurs d'enterrer
en rond. The expression « les
empêcheurs de tourner/danser en rond » means the spoil-sports –. The
expression is applied to people who gratuitously stop you doing what you are fully entitled
to do.

13)Une bière d’occasion. In those days, we are told ,
planks from previously used coffins were on sale in cemeteries in France by the
common graves. I am puzzled how the dead
people came to vacate their coffins! I haven't the heart to research such a grim subject but I guess that some corpses buried in a common grave were emptied from the coffin first so that it or its timber could be resold,

14)Un pot de miel….offrir….à une âme soeur - The strange story is told that the Brassens
family bought the second-hand coffin from the family of a man who had recently died. The latter had stipulated that the price obtained for these boards would
have to be to enough to buy a jar of honey. This honey was to be be given to his great soul-mate.

15)Ça rendrait les dames confuses –
as a modern languages teacher, I used to irritate my classes, so they told me, by talking about
« faux amis ». The word
“confus” was one on my list. In fact “confus
has two meanings in French and one is the same meaning as in English – un
esprit confus is a confused mind.
However”confus” is a faux ami because the French also use it in a sense
not given to the word in English –it often means, as here, embarrassed/ashamed. He would have embarrassed the ladies by this final line, but he would not not have
confused them, if he had said frankly that he landed his pointed boot up the
arse of each of the “apostles”.

16)Un goupillon in Church use is a
sprinkler of holy water. In domestic
use, it is brush for cleaning jars

17)Le vicaire is the curate – the assistant
priest to the curé. The word “vicar”, as
used in the Anglican church is priest in charge of the Parish and thus would
translate as curé, if it needed to be translated into French. It is perhaps deliberate that Brassens makes it
a lesser priest, who behaves so badly in his story.

Please click here to return
to the alphabetical list of my Brassens selection